Newly updated after this year’s Gen Con!
Every year we run a huge DCC team tournament, and because tournament modules are played over a large sample of tables and judges, we are able to quantify their danger level. Based on this quantification we have a rating system to use as a guide when selecting your next adventure to run: The Count Dante Tournament Rating System!
The Count Dante Tournament Rating System uses a ratio of killed player characters to total player characters that explore the dungeon. Depending on that ratio, a rating is assigned. A Type I rating means the dungeon kills – on average – 20% or fewer of the characters that explore it. The ratings progress in 20% increments up to a Type VI, which is 100% lethal.
The ratios work out as follows, based on the ratio of killed PCs (eliminated) for every PC that entered the dungeon across all rounds:
• Type I – 0.0 to 0.2:1, or 0-20% lethal
• Type II – 0.2 to 0.4:1, or 21-40% lethal
• Type III – 0.4 to 0.6:1, or 41-60% lethal
• Type IV – 0.6 to 0.8:1, or 61-80% lethal
• Type V – 0.8 to 0.99:1, or 81-99% lethal
• Type VI – 1:1, or 100% lethal!
We have run six large DCC team tournaments since 2017, including Gen Con 2023 where we ran our latest tournament event based on the DCC Dying Earth rules, the Arch-Daihaks of Dying Earth!
Here are the ratings for the team tournaments run to date: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying (2017), Riders of the Phlogiston (2018), The Greatest Thieves in Lankhmar (2019, 2020), Return to the Starless Sea (2020, 2022), Save XCrawl! (2021), and Arch-Daihaks of Dying Earth (2023). Future tournament modules will also use this rating system once they are put through their paces at large gaming events!
| Adventure | Count Dante Dungeon Rating* | Ratio of Killed PCs | Total PCs Killed | Total PCs, Including Rounds 2 and 3 |
| Return to the Starless Sea – Bride of Cyclops Con 2020 and Gen Con 2022 | IV | 0.68:1 | 1737 | 2555 |
| Riders of the Phlogiston – Gen Con 2018 | IV | 0.62:1 | 83 | 134 |
| The Greatest Thieves in Lankhmar – Gen Con 2019 and DCC Days Online 2020 | III | 0.54:1 | 100 | 184 |
| Arch-Daihaks of Dying Earth – Gen Con 2023 | II | 0.38:1 | 88 | 230 |
| The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying – Gen Con 2017 | II | 0.35:1 | 23 | 65 |
| Save XCrawl! – Empire of the Cyclops Con 2021 | II | 0.27:1 | 16 | 59 |
Remember, you can run your own tournaments at home! Many of the DCC team tournaments are available for purchase over on the Goodman Games online store!
